Category: Misc

The first poet in English – as opposed to Latin – was a divinely inspired swineherd at Whitby Abbey called Caedmon. On one of my many travels around the Internet Archive I found an audio book of his famed poem… Modern technology bringing some of the oldest technology back to life!

What is this site here for? It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a bit lately. I’ve played with the theme (based on the classic WordPress Kubrick), added Google Ads in the no doubt false hope that it will make me rich (it might pay for my hosting if I’m really really lucky), and added Google Analytics (never used it before but I will report back on what I think of it.)

But what is it for? Content? Well, I’ve added my page of Ernest Pike music online, and I’ve added that to the menu bar up there. I’ve also got one or two other projects that I plan on hosting at some point that will get added to that menu bar as well.

But primarily, I suppose, this site is for playing. I like to play with technology. I like to learn new (or old) programming languages, try them out, see what I can make them do. I like to write programs, play games, get old operating systems working (I still have a virtual machine running OS/2 and I am beginning to think that the old pedestal in the garage may have to be pressed into service as a dual-boot OS/2 and BeOS machine… for testing my web development projects, of course…)

But I suppose – in a way – this place will replace my Firefox bookmarks menu. Or at least, the “emulation/computing/programming/web” part of it, anyway.

Stay tuned, esotechnicians. There’s a long road ahead of us all, and I intend to be standing at the side of it, waving shiny things at you and saying “come and play with these interesting toys”. Believe…

5. Daddy’s SongDavy Jones and the Monkees at their finest. Watch the syncing of the video as well, and remember this is Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson before they had a clue what they were doing… “years ago I knew a ma-ah-an…” Beautiful… Watch at the end for Frank Zappa doing an impression of Marilyn Whirlwind.

3. OK Go – Here It Goes Again
If you’re feeling guilty about watching Winnie The Pooh The Satanist, what better but a bit of OK Go? This video is so good a pharmaceuticals company recently made an advert that is an homage to it… In fact, it’s so good my brain hurts.

2. Krazy And Ignatz At The Circus
It may have first seen light of day in 1917, but it’s the only one of the Krazy Kat cartoons from that year that still works. And if you’re a true Krazionista, like me and that Michael Stipe fella out of REM, then you’ll like this sort of thing. And if you’re not, you won’t. But it made me cry.

1. Lord Of The Rings, 1940 VintageYou just have to pause this every so often just to look at it, especially when the credits are on (read VERY carefully at that point). But this is so wonderful it needs no more hyperbolae – just enjoy!

PS: for those that have made Herbert Payne my top search result, just enjoy the man himself, on the new-fangled YouTube boxofvisualdelights … 😉

5. AggressionThey don’t have any. Not towards people, or to other dogs. You let your dog off the lead and you think “will that dog hurt my dog”, not the other way round. This is a breed characteristic, before you ask.

4. Weight lossExercise. They love it. As much as they can get. And then a bit more. Gotta be cheaper than a gym membership. Feel that burn!

3. RarityOh, you’ve got a giant panda, have you? Show off, aren’t you! Take it for a walk do you? Well, there’s fewer of these puppies in the world than there are giant pandas – quite literally.

2. Sense of humourSee that photo up there? Now your average dog would shake that hat off and lose the dirty towel in seconds. Our dog, on the other hand, decided that this was the best joke ever, and lost no time in walking round the room showing everyone just how much fun this all was.

1. That nose
Nice bloodhound you’ve got there. They can follow a trail that’s up to four hours old, you say. Whoop de do.

Otterhounds can follow trails up to eight hours old. That’s eight hours. Eight. Twice as much as that bloodhound.

Okay, they’re harder to train, but let’s say you run a search and rescue operation. Four hours? Or eight hours?

Yeah.

Next time I get lost in the mountains – I can has otterhounds? kthxbai.